"Every ounce of effort from every single player was focused on the ball. The density of the players is such that one barely gets a glimpse of the ball. Sometime the ball advances and when it does the mass of men moves with it. Here, slow judgment can be dangerous. They scramble in plain clothes — there’s no official uniforms — so it’s ambiguous as to who might be a teammate or part of the opposition. It’s hard to tell who might even be a spectator. The location of the ball was always a scene of mayhem.

"This for the past 350 years, remains the face of the origin of football. In the chaos of it all, the figures are cast by instinct. Vividly alive, they appear to move without reason or control.

"Sometimes thrust into the chaos, sometimes running from it, I realized this is what I was desperately after."

Participatin in in)(between. ShaShin Book Award, an award open to all Japanese photographers and photographers residing in Japan. More information in English and JapaneseSee all entries